Unemployment rate in July rises to 7.3 percent
MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - The unemployment rate of the Philippines rose to 7.3 percent in July, from 7.0 percent over the same period of last year, the National Statistics Office said today.
The Metro Manila capital region continued to have the highest unemployment rate, at 10.9 percent in July.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan cited larger labor force and "inefficient" industries as the major reasons for the higher jobless rate.
The Philippine labor force grew nearly 2 percent to 41.17 million in July, from 40.4 million a year ago.
Among the unemployed people, 61.3 percent were males. Almost half, or 48.9 percent, of the unemployed persons belonged to the age group of 15 to 24 years. About one-fifth, or 21.7 percent of the unemployed were college graduates.
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